age of empires 2 the conquerors best civilization

#Age of empires 2 the conquerors best civilization Pc#

Caravans increase the speed of trading vessels and Herbal Medicine helps garrisoned units heal faster. Bloodlines and Parthian Tactics are purely military advances, but there are some more subtle advances that you might want to concentrate on. More interesting are the universal technologies added to the game. This advance increases the time it takes rivals to construct wonders and halves the cost of Hunnish spies and treason. The one exception is the Hunnish Atheism.

Halberdiers and Hussars are improved versions of Pikemen and Light Cavalry while Petards offer a cheap alternative to cumbersome siege weapons.Įach race also has its own unique technologies but for the most part, these just tend to fall into military advancements. A few extra units have been included for all the civilizations as well. Last come the Koreans, whose emphasis on defense will put any attacker to the test. The Aztecs benefit from shortened unit production time and gold collection bonuses. The Mayans also have an exceptional ranged unit in the Plumed Archer. The Aztecs and Mayans both suffer from a lack of cavalry but both also have excellent foot substitutes. Their technological superiority as well as their gold collection and construction bonuses makes them ideal for building elaborate cities. The Spanish civilization is also predominated by horses and uses them as mounts for cannoneers and monks. They also do not need houses to support their population. The Huns have excellent cavalry bonuses and are adept at lightning quick attacks on structures. Overall, they fill in some holes left by the earlier civilizations. Five new civilizations have been added to the original thirteen included in the basic game. The new races are the most intriguing thing about the game. But just to recap, there have been some notable additions to the game in terms of AI, a lessening of administrative headaches and a whole bunch of new races, units and technologies. So we're not going to go into tons of detail about the basics here. We've already written an extensive preview of the game and provided you with campaign overviews straight from the team at Ensemble. The game does alter a few rules and modifies a few units, but it's all done for the sake of more balanced gameplay. It brings a lot more to Age of Empires II than we expected and it does it all while preserving the character of the original. One is Britain, although oddly it takes a cavalry unit only about five minutes to ride from Cornwall to the tip of Scotland.The Conquerors is an excellent example of adding tons of new features to a game without totally changing its character or throwing it totally out of balance. Two other features worthy of note are smarter villagers who automatically gather resources, and the ability to create ship formations. The word among expert players is that unless you attack Korean civilizations early in the game, you can kiss goodbye to winning. Although they have never been in the forefront of world history, al least not until this century, they were quite formidable. Central America had no horses before the European conquests, and units such as Jaguar warriors replace cavalry. The Aztecs and Mayan races give the game a new direction, both in units and graphics. The big change is the introduction of five new civilizations: the Spanish, Aztecs, Mayans, Huns and Koreans.

The Conqueror's Expansion adds heaps of historical battles, such as the Battle of Hastings, the Conquistadores efforts to topple Montezuma, El Cid's attempt to expel the Moors from Spain, and Attila the Hun's reign of terror in Central and Southern Europe. The best thing is the new campaign structure, a traditional weakness of Age of Empires. It changes the original, which has to be installed on your hard drive, enough to almost merit a new number, Age of Empires 2.5, anyway. Happily, the Conqueror's Expansion fits neatly into the first category. Expansion packs vary widely in quality, from almost complete new games to expensive rip-offs that contain just more of the same.

And just when it seems to be getting a bit tired, along comes this first-rate upgrade.

#Age of empires 2 the conquerors best civilization Pc#

Herald rating: * * * * * Microsoft, PC Review: Peter Eley One of the best games ever, if not the best, has sold over 5 million copies worldwide.